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Explosion at Surat Thani Central Prison

Police on Sunday will seek arrest warrants for two men suspected of setting off a bomb at Surat Thani Central Prison.

Pol Col Pornsak Nuannoo, deputy police chief of Surat Thani province, said security cameras captured clear images of two men aged between 20-25 years old, running from one side of the prison’s walls shortly after the bomb went off.

Authorities will seek warrants from the provincial court.

Police believed the bomb was intended to make a hole in the wall for inmates to escape. The explosion took place on Saturday when prison guards were having a break and inmates had been released from their cells for bathing.

The device, identified as an M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine, failed to penetrate the concrete wall. It damaged a car parked nearby, but no injuries were reported.

Investigations found the Claymore’s detonator was the same type used in ranger and army units. Police will ask the Quartermaster Department of the Royal Thai Army to track down the source of the device.

It was believed that some prison officials may have been involved in the bombing plot, Pol Col Pornsak said.